Collapsible garment hanger

ABSTRACT

The device disclosed comprises a two piece garment hanger fabricated from steel wire and collapsible so as to be readily inserted in the neck opening of a turtle neck sweater or the like. A first wire is pivotally connected to a second wire by a rivet, which rivet is so located with respect to these wires so that the hanger can be opened to support a garment in a conventional fashion or can be collapsed so as to permit insertion or removal of the hanger through the relatively small neck opening in a turtle neck sweater or the like.

United States Patent Krut March 6, 1973 [54] COLLAPSIBLE GARMENT HANGER 2,440,637 4/1948 Lowe ..223/94 Inventor: Charles F 170 Taylor Street 1,097,889 5/1914 Sommer ..223/94 Talcouvlue Conn 06080 Primary Examiner-James R. Boler [22] Filed: March 4, 1971 Assistant Examiner-George H. Krizmanich 1 pp No: 120,936 AttorneyMcCormick, Pauldmg & Huber [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 223/94 The device disclosed comprises a two piece garment Cl- A471 hanger fabricated f steel wire and collapsible so as Fleld Of Search 89, 94, 88, 92, to be di y inserted in h neck p i g f a turtle 2] 1/113 neck sweater or the like. A first wire is pivotally connected to a second wire by a rivet, which rivet is so [56] References C'ted located with respect to these wires so that the hanger UNITED STATES PATENTS can he opened to support a garment in a conventional fashion or can be collapsed so as to permit insertion or 2,500,729 3/1950 Winnemore ..223/85 removal of the hanger through the relatively small 2,440,636 4/1948 o e neck opening in a turtle neck sweater or the like. 2,754,038 7/1956 Varker..... 2,745,579 5/ 1956 Goodman ..223/94 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHAR 61m 3,719,312.

F764 FIG: 5

IA'VENTOR.

CHARLES Ff KRUT A TTOR/VEYS COLLAPSIBLE GARMENT HANGER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to collapsible garment hangers of the type especially suited for supporting turtle neck sweaters and other narrow neck garments, and deals more particularly with a relatively simple construction for a two piece collapsible hanger.

US. Pat. No. 2,418,870 shows a folding or collapsible garment hanger of the type suited for insertion in the narrow neck opening or a garment, which hanger is adapted to be folded so as to be removed from the garment through said neck opening. However, this device is a relatively complex one including as it does many moving parts with the result that such a device is relatively expensive to manufacture as well as cumbersome to operate. The present invention seeks to obviate these defects in prior art garment hangers of the type shown in this patent.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a collapsible garment hanger which is adapted to be inserted through the narrow neck opening of a turtle neck sweater or the like thereby avoiding the requirement that a garment hanger for use in supporting such a garment be inserted through the bottom of the garment, or where the garment is provided with fasteners for enlarging the neck opening as with some womens dresses, the present invention provides a hanger which may be collapsible for insertion into or removal from such a garment without the necessity for fastening these devices. It will be apparent that utilizing a conventional hanger for the purpose of supporting a narrow neck garment, such a turtle neck sweater or the like, results in pulling of the neck portion of the garment so as to cause stretching, or worse such a hanger may result in tearing of the garment during insertion thereof through the bottom opening.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a collapsible garment hanger, and deals more particularly with a device fabricated from two relatively stiff but nevertheless resilient wire portions one of which has an upper hook portion adapted to support the device plus a lower portion for engaging the inside of one of the garment shoulder portions. An intermediate portion of this wire is integrally connected to the hook portion and to the lower portion by a 90 bend. A second wire portion also has a lower portion similar to the lower portion of the first wire for engaging the other shoulder portion of the garment. This second wire portion also has an intermediate portion integrally connected to the lower portion by a bend of approximately 90, and it is an important feature of the present invention that the second wire also has an upper portion somewhat shorter than the upper portion of the first wire, which second wire upper portion defines a hooked or twisted uppermost end which is bent out of the plane of the remainder of said wire portion so as to lie in contiguous relation to the first wire, and to encircle it slightly when the device is supporting a garment. Thus the two wire portions are latched to one another in their open or garment supporting condition. A rivet pivotally connects intermediate portions of the first and second wires to permit collapsing of the device by releasing the uppermost end of the second wire from the first wire with a slight scissors or twisting motion. When the device has been so collapsed, it can be readily removed from the neck opening of the garment, or inserted therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing the collapsible garment hanger of the present invention in condition for supporting a turtle neck sweater from a clothes rail (not shown).

FIG. 2 is a view of the garment hanger in its collapsed condition illustrating the preferred configuration of the device for insertion into or removal from the neck opening of the turtle neck sweater shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the rivet used to pivotally connect the first and second wires, and also illustrates the manner of operation of the latch device for releasably retaining the wires in their open, or garment supporting condition as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Turning now to the drawing in greater detail, FIG. 1 shows a turtle neck sweater S having a relatively narrow neck portion 10 which defines a neck opening through which a collapsible garment hanger of the type to be described is adapted to be inserted or removed in a collapsed condition as best shown in FIG. 2. The sweater S is of conventional construction having left and right shoulder portions 12 and 14 and as shown in FIG. 1, these garment shoulder portions are supported by lower, outwardly extending portions of the garment hanger, as indicated generally at 16 and 18 respectively. The lowermost end portions of each of these shoulder supporting portions 16 and 18 defines an intumed rounded portion 20 and 22 respectively which is so designed as not to tear or otherwise snag the interior of the garment during insertion or removal of the hanger as depicted in FIG. 2.

Turning now to a more complete description of the collapsible garment hanger, FIG. 2 shows this device as comprising a first and second wire with various bends in each, but which wires are pivotally connected to one another by generally U-shaped bend portions provided intermediate the ends of these wires, as shown generally at 24 and 26 in said first and second wire elements respectively. The pivotal connection comprises a rivet, best shown at 28 in FIGS. 4 and 5. From these figures it will be apparent that the first and second wires are pivotally movable with respect to one another as a result of the U-shaped bends 24 and 26, provided in each and as a result of the rivet 28 provided at the base of these U-shaped portions.

The first wire has an upper hook portion 30 which is adapted to be received on a rail or the like as is conventional practice with coat hangers generally. This hook portion is integrally connected to the lower garment supporting portion 16 by at least one bend of approxi mately as indicated generally at 32 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Actually this bend is less than 90 and defines an angle somewhat greater than 90 but it is only important for purposes of the present invention that this bend be pronounced as shown so as to permit the motion of that portion of the device between the bend 32 and the hook portion 30 to achieve the relatively folding operation illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The second wire also has an intermediate portion which includes at least one generally right-angle bend of approximately 90", as illustrated at 34 and the upper portion of this second wire is preferably shorter than the first, and includes a twisted portion best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 at 36, which portion is offset from the plane of the remainder of this second wire so as to permit twisting of this portion around the adjacent, or contiguous portion of the hook 30, of the first wire. This feature permits latching of the device in its open condition for supporting a garment as shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the twisted portion 36 of the second wire comprises a compound bend whereby the uppermost end 36 of said second wire is bent toward the hook portion of the first wire, and forwardly with respect thereto so that the natural resiliency of the steel wire is adapted to hold these wire parts in their latched or locked position as a result of the overlapping of this twisted end portion 36 of the second wire with respect to the hook portion 30 of the first wire.

The operation of the above described garment hanger can best be referred to by reference to FIG. 3 wherein the user is shown in the process of latching the first and second wires in position for supporting a garment as shown in FIG. 1. More particularly, the user can be seen from FIG. 3 to be loosely grasping the hanger as it is configured in FIG. 2 so that his finger supports the intermediate portions of the wires in the area above the 90 bends shown at 34 and 32, and so that his thumb is adapted to engage the protruding twisted portion 36 of the second wire with the result that he can push this portion 36 in a clockwise direction as he views the device so as to bring it up adjacent to the hook portion 30 of the first wire, and so that he can then twist this protruding portion 36 so that it nests with the generally straight portion of the hook 30- and moves in behind it as shown in FIG. 5 so as to latch these members in position for supporting the garment as shown in FIG. 1. In order to remove the collapsible garment hanger the reverse process is followed whereby the protruding portion 36 of the second wire is moved out of the plane defined by the first wire so as to unlatch these members with the thumb and forefinger in a motion substantially the converse of that described above.

Thus the use of the collapsible hanger described above can best be characterized as a slight twisting or scissors action when latching or unlatching the first and second wire portions of the hanger. It will be apparent that this action can be accomplished while the hanger is on a clothes rail or it can be accomplished after removing the hanger from such a rail. The compound bend provided at the upper end portion 36 of the second wire comprises an important feature of this invention in that it permits a collapsible hanger of the present design to be economically and conveniently manufactured by machinery of the type used to fabricate present day wire hangers. The compound bend indicated generally at 36 provided in the second wire may of course take slightly different forms, it being only necessary that this bend is compound in that it is made in at least two planes, that is the plane of the second wire itself as well as being so formed as to protrude slightly from this plane into a plane perpendicular thereto. The device is of inexpensive construction and yet results in a very efficient collapsible hanger which does not have the complexity of the prior art hanger constructions.

I claim:

1. A collapsible resilient wire garment hanger for supporting a narrow neck garment having left and right shoulder portions, said hanger comprising a first wire member having a vertically extending upper hook portion and having an elongated downwardly sloping lower portion for engaging the inside of one of said garment shoulder portions, said first wire member having an elongated intermediate portion connecting the hook portion and said elongated sloping lower shoulder supporting portion together, a second resilient wire member having a lower portion similar to that of said first wire member and oppositely extending thereto for engaging the other shoulder portion of the garment, said second wire member having an elongated intermediate portion connected to the lower portion, the connection of each intermediate portion to the lower portions respectively defining large bends said second wire member further including an upper portion somewhat shorter than the upper portion of the first wire member and having a twisted uppermost end offset into and beyond the plane of said hook portion, and means including a rivet pivotably connecting said first and said second wire members together above the relatively large bends and below said hook portion, said upper portion of said second wire member contiguous with the hook portion and having the twisted uppermost end engaging the inner surface of said hook portion of said first wire member to latch said members in a predetermined position when the garment hanger is in its open garment supporting condition with said upper hook portion being free for access to a support member, said intermediate portions defining means engageable by a users hand for moving the twisted uppermost end toward the hook portion for engagement therewith when the garment hanger is in its collapsed closed condition.

2. A collapsible garment hanger as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means include U-shaped bends which are nearly closed upon one another defining openings for loosely receiving said rivet.

3. A collapsible garment hanger as set forth in claim 2 wherein said lower portions include inturned end portions at the lowermost ends of said wires so as to prevent snagging of the resilient wire on the inside of the garment during its insertion and removal through the neck opening.

' *zg g UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF (IQRRE'GTIGN Patent No. 3,719,312 Dated March 1 Inv n fls) Charles F. Krut It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Col. 1, line 31, fastening" should be -unfastening-.

Signed and seaied this 3rd day of July 1973.

.(S-EAL),

I Attest; v

EDWARD M. FLETCHER,JR. Rene Tegtmeyer I Attesting Officer Acting Commissioner of Patents 

1. A collapsible resilient wire garment hanger for supporting a narrow neck garment having left and right shoulder portions, said hanger comprising a first wire member having a vertically extending upper hook portion and having an elongated downwardly sloping lower portion for engaging the inside of one of said garment shoulder portions, said first wire member having an elongated intermediate portion connecting the hook portion and said elongated sloping lower shoulder supporting portion together, a second resilient wire member having a lower portion similar to that of said first wire member and oppositely extendinG thereto for engaging the other shoulder portion of the garment, said second wire member having an elongated intermediate portion connected to the lower portion, the connection of each intermediate portion to the lower portions respectively defining large bends said second wire member further including an upper portion somewhat shorter than the upper portion of the first wire member and having a twisted uppermost end offset into and beyond the plane of said hook portion, and means including a rivet pivotably connecting said first and said second wire members together above the relatively large bends and below said hook portion, said upper portion of said second wire member contiguous with the hook portion and having the twisted uppermost end engaging the inner surface of said hook portion of said first wire member to latch said members in a predetermined position when the garment hanger is in its open garment supporting condition with said upper hook portion being free for access to a support member, said intermediate portions defining means engageable by a user''s hand for moving the twisted uppermost end toward the hook portion for engagement therewith when the garment hanger is in its collapsed closed condition.
 1. A collapsible resilient wire garment hanger for supporting a narrow neck garment having left and right shoulder portions, said hanger comprising a first wire member having a vertically extending upper hook portion and having an elongated downwardly sloping lower portion for engaging the inside of one of said garment shoulder portions, said first wire member having an elongated intermediate portion connecting the hook portion and said elongated sloping lower shoulder supporting portion together, a second resilient wire member having a lower portion similar to that of said first wire member and oppositely extendinG thereto for engaging the other shoulder portion of the garment, said second wire member having an elongated intermediate portion connected to the lower portion, the connection of each intermediate portion to the lower portions respectively defining large bends said second wire member further including an upper portion somewhat shorter than the upper portion of the first wire member and having a twisted uppermost end offset into and beyond the plane of said hook portion, and means including a rivet pivotably connecting said first and said second wire members together above the relatively large bends and below said hook portion, said upper portion of said second wire member contiguous with the hook portion and having the twisted uppermost end engaging the inner surface of said hook portion of said first wire member to latch said members in a predetermined position when the garment hanger is in its open garment supporting condition with said upper hook portion being free for access to a support member, said intermediate portions defining means engageable by a user''s hand for moving the twisted uppermost end toward the hook portion for engagement therewith when the garment hanger is in its collapsed closed condition.
 2. A collapsible garment hanger as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means include U-shaped bends which are nearly closed upon one another defining openings for loosely receiving said rivet. 